the fifty year old virgin....so to speak

Dead Horse

Mark — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 12:23:21 +0000

I know I’m overdoing the whole Raymond Chandler thing, but I just can’t help myself. There is a method to this madness. (And I ain’t gonna explain it today!) I found another quote yesterday that I have to share.

“Room 332 was at the back of the building near the door to the fire escape. The corridor which led to it had a smell of old carpet and furniture oil and the drab anonymity of a thousand shabby lives”
The Little Sister – Raymond Chandler

New Look

Mark — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 17:14:17 +0000

Yep, the site has a new look. I’m not crazy about it, but its a start. More changes on the way.

Oh, missions

Mark — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 04:14:57 +0000

I’ve been busy. That’s good. I’ve been so un-busy the last few months, that I haven’t gotten anything done. I know that sentence doesn’t make sense, but for me it’s true. The less I have to do, the less I accomplish. “Too much time and not enough to do in it,” is how the phrase should read for me. I tend to procrastinate when I don’t have much to do.

The last few weeks have been a blur, but a lot’s happened and I have gotten a lot done.

I’ve moved
Helped someone else move
Drastically reworked my resume
Started working a on decent paying project (is decent the right word here?)
Started catching up on films
Learned two new computer programs
Read a lot
Written some
I saw Don for the first time in six years

Not bad for a month, especially if you look at the preceding one. I’m not trying to brag or say it’s been a perfect four weeks, it’s just a start.

I feel bad about not posting anything of substance on this blog for a while now. As Steph said in When They Leave, “Can somebody else be me for a while? I need a break.” I’ll have to admit that I have felt that way for several months now.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051220/NEWS02/512200397/1025/ARCHIVES

http://www.millermosterrobbins.com/visitations/View.php?id=78

After Judy died, I slumped into a dreadful despair. I felt like I had been drawn into some cruel cataract and no matter how hard I tried, I could neither find the surface nor air to breathe. (Of course my Ptown adventure didn’t help my mood much either.) I’ve tried to hide it from my friends, mostly they’ve said they don’t notice, but I think they’re just being nice. I have tried to remind others to be positive about their lives, hoping that advice will stick with me. I’ve really felt more like Polonius and have often feared that I will soon be found behind the curtain. I also figured if I didn’t write here I would give fewer clues to the curtain I was behind. To quote Steph again, “I feel like I’m lying by omission.” (sic)

So now I’m busy again and trying to catch up on my omissions. I hope I have enough time.

Marlowe

Mark — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 01:34:11 +0000

I just finished another Raymond Chandler novel, my third in six days. While its not 10 saltines in sixty seconds, it ain’t bad either. Maybe it will help me shake off this Big Sleep and start writing.

Quote

Mark — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 04:46:10 +0000

“Would you convey my compliments to the purist who reads your proofs and tell him or her that I write a sort of broken-down patois which is something like the way a Swiss waiter talks, and that when I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will stay split and when I interrupt the velvety smoothness of my more or less literate syntax with a few sudden words of bar-room vernacular, that is done with the eyes wide open and the mind relaxed and attentive. The method may not be perfect, but it is all I have.”

- Raymond Chandler- From a letter to his editor regarding a proofreader who had changed Chandler’s split infinitives

TGIF

Mark — Fri, 26 May 2006 12:51:27 +0000

I'm in a rather bellicose mood today, so damn the torpedoes and…..

The River

Mark — Mon, 22 May 2006 15:51:44 +0000

Cool gray limestone on a light Summer night,
Bare feet gliding along moss covered banks,
We shed our clothes below a Barley Moon,
And slowly slid into the dark green river.
Warm water slipped around your slender legs,
Quickly hiding your perfect nakedness,
It’s wetness, barely hiding yours.
You stood there resisting only the river’s flow,
As I entered where all was darkly new,
While the water washed away our imagined sin.

We laid our bodies upon some grass,
It’s greenness only muted by the night,
And the kind September air dried away the water,
Finishing our final flight from innocence.

Top Fives

Mark — Thu, 11 May 2006 02:06:34 +0000

You can blame Jeremiah or Steph for this posting. It was like an assignment and I need that right now. I'm too busy to think of something on my own.

Top Five Ways to Make Me Frown

Break a promise
Show up late
Treat me like I’m stupid
Be negative all of the time
Act old

Top Five People Who Have Changed My Life

Judy Caldwell Flanigan
a/b Tim & John Fish
Maxim Vorbiev
Arthur Nicholls/Jeremiah Cohick
Lewis “Sonny” French

Top Five Emotions I Have Felt

Longing
Humor
Grief
Worry
Admiration

Top Five Ways to Be More Like Me

Encourage others
Have Passion (for anything)
Be clumsy
Try to be funny and make others laugh
Cry easily

Top Five Things I Believe With All My Heart and Soul

There are no absolutes
There are no absolutes
There are no absolutes
There are no absolutes
There are no absolutes

Top Five Things I Wish Would Just Disappear

The Bush Family
Nuclear Weapons
Poverty
Envy
The Bush Family

Top Five Things That Scare Me

George Bush
Jeb Bush
The Religious Right (Actually any extreme religious group Christian, Muslim, Jewish, etc.)
Nuclear Weapons
George Bush

Top Five Rules My Parents Enforced on Me

Be Polite
Be Honest
Be Fair
Be Clean
Be Funny

Top Five Ways to Make Me Smile

Tell me you like my kids
Get my jokes
Tell me you’ve never noticed how blue my eyes are
Pour me another glass of Red Wine
Quote from one of my favorite films

Great News

Mark — Tue, 09 May 2006 18:59:10 +0000

Bush's Job Approval In Historical Perspective
by Chris Bowers

Gallup has a terrible new poll for Bush: 31% approve, 65% disapprove. Since the main benefit of the Gallup poll are its trendlines stretching back more than sixty years, here are some facts about this poll in historical perspective:
• A net approval of -34 is worse than the low suffered by either Jimmy Carter (-31) or Bush's father (-31). Only Truman and Nixon ever fared worse.
• Since 1950, this is the lowest job approval for a President facing midterm elections by more than ten points.
• This is the first poll showing Bush's disapproval to be more than twice the size of his approval.
• This is the lowest approval rating for Bush in any public surveysince the start of his term.
• A disapproval of 65% ties for the second highest ever recorded.The highest ever recorded was just one point higher, 66%, for Richard Nixonin August of 1974, about one week before he resigned.

It is now reasonable to start talking about Bush in the 20's, and Bush breaking the all-time record for job disapproval.

Fuel

Mark — Tue, 09 May 2006 12:50:25 +0000

1 Eight ounce cup of Starbucks coffee = $2.70

1 Eight ounce cup of Regular unleaded gasoline = $0.19